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Installing a payphone in my house

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Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#51

Post by Agamus »

dQw4w9WgXcQ wrote: post #31
hayleox wrote: post #8

I did really enjoy this post, but is it just a tiny bit weird how casual he is about repeatedly committing fraud? Not asking for some grand apology (lord knows the crap I did as a kid), but the post is written like defrauding an ISP is just a normal and fine thing to do. Am I off base here?

You must be Gen-Z or younger. Small-time "fraud" antics like this were part of the hacker ethos throughout the 80s and 90s, some highlights being the Anarchist Cookbook, Matthew Broderick changing school records in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Kevin Mitnick as one of the notable poster children of the new era of cyber enforcement crackdowns. Even the word "hacker" meant something a lot different than today where kid…

^ This is accurate. And when I saw the William Poundstone "Big Secrets" reference, I knew I was home. For anyone who hasn't played in that series, do yourself the favor!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Secrets

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#52

Post by bmitc »

That's a really awesome story with a great opening, middle, and especially the end, if one ignores the adolescent fraud. I think it really highlights the simple joy that technology that literally just works can bring. I'm around the same age as the author, a little younger in fact, but there's just something about today's Internet and a lot of the overwhelming amount of technology that just isn't fun or memorable. From game consoles to land lines to various other things, there were pieces of technology that just worked and worked well. Of course, there was technology that didn't work well, but I think part of the tragedy is that a lot of technology that worked well has been replaced by "better" technology that doesn't work well.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#53

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

DeathArrow wrote: post #50

Is there an adapter which allows you to connect an analog phone to a digital phone line? I would like to make use of an ancient analog phone.

Yup! You want an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA). That's a box which takes Ethernet in, and gives you one or more FXS ports. (An FXS and an FXO port are similar, but the FXS port is the one which provides the current that powers the phone, generates the ringing signal, etc.)

It's important to note that other than call routing, the ATA has to do almost everything the phone company would do. The ATA provides any Caller ID, for example. It provides call-waiting, or 3-way conferencing. If you want to use a rotary phone, you'll need one that handles pulse dialing.

Your ATA will use SIP to connect to a VoIP provider. Some support using multiple SIP accounts (especially if the ATA has multiple FXS ports.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#55

Post by wolrah »

doctor_eval wrote: post #49

I’m not usually nostalgic, but I love everything about that phone line simulator. The case, the dip switches, the font, the model number DLE-200B. Brings back memories of a time long past.

Basically everything Viking makes has an old school telecom aesthetic.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#56

Post by makeitdouble »

jamal-kumar wrote: post #17
makeitdouble wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The credit card fraud is to me the worst, as any random number might actually match an existing one, and back in the days I wouldn't expect much scrutiny from the card processor. That's then up to the poor soul who's number was used to go through paperwork purgatory to dispute the charge. Orherwise ISPs are the poster child of monopoly giants that had to be broken down kicking and screaming, but kept screwing the cus…

Back then it was a giant pain in the ass. These days isn't it a lot easier to deal with that? You basically just get on the phone with equifax/transunion and upload some documents. Guess that trial and error had to start somewhere. Also I really wonder what the mathematical chances are that the card actually matched with someone back then. Like obviously a collision risk here but how large?

There's 12 random numbers, and I assume banks reject some numbers based on obviousness (e.g. all 0, all 1s, 1234, all 3 groups are identical etc.) so I'd assume there's actually less probability space than what we'd expect.

Even if it's still a pretty huge space.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#57

Post by jrockway »

jamesy0ung wrote: post #47
jamal-kumar wrote: post #10

Back when I was a kid I had alot of fun using methods to get free phone calls on these things. Like, beyond just red-boxing or whatever (Past that time). In Japan, they would just accept DTMF tones from anything that would generate them. There was all these people using hacked cards that they installed countermeasures against which were hilarious because people using these hacked yakuza cards would keep one foot in t…

> In Japan, they would just accept DTMF tones from anything that would generate them. There was all these people using hacked cards that they installed countermeasures against which were hilarious because people using these hacked yakuza cards would keep one foot in the doorway in case the fabled alarm would go off, i knew a guy who did this thinking naaah it would never happen to me. NOPE happens to him, he had to s…

Apparently GlaDOS was the president of NTT at the time. She really wanted a deadly neurotoxin emitter on every handset, but it was deemed too costly.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#58

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

cachvico wrote: post #54

How come the ISP didn't blacklist his address?

I think the ISP didn't ask for an address. Back then I doubt credit card companies were doing address verification, at least for lower-value purchases. (The infrastructure probably didn't exist.)

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#59

Post by drc500free »

hayleox wrote: post #8

I did really enjoy this post, but is it just a tiny bit weird how casual he is about repeatedly committing fraud? Not asking for some grand apology (lord knows the crap I did as a kid), but the post is written like defrauding an ISP is just a normal and fine thing to do. Am I off base here?

There is extremely low risk of colliding with a real number, and people didn't feel guilty about using services that had nearly zero marginal cost. Phreaking or fake-cc-number fraud was considered pretty victimless, and if there was a victim it was a baby bell that had just been busted up for being a massive monopoly.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#60

Post by kfrzcode »

nahmean wrote: post #39
jjeaff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it literally just the sound of money dropping that validated the call? Presumably this was before automatic switching and a live operator had to connect you?

At one point it was. You could even record the sound on a handheld recorder and play it back. But it hasn’t worked in a long while. Pay phones mitigated this in a low tech way - by software muting the handset. Edit: oh yeah, and after that, you’d just call the operator and tell them the keys were sticky and to dial the number for you, then you’d “insert the coins” by playing the tones. Well, or you just third party b…

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